Guyana Goldfields declares commercial production at Aurora

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Guyana Goldfields has declared commercial production at its Aurora mine, in Guyana, as of January 1, with construction completed below budget.

The miner’s TSX-listed stock rose 7.23% on Tuesday to C$3.41 apiece on the back of the announcement.

"I would like to thank the entire team [for their contribution to] our significant milestone of achieving production guidance for 2015. We have successfully ramped up Aurora and the hard rock is processing nicely through the primary crusher. We look forward to the next few quarters and demonstrating continued production success to reinforce our successful ramp-up to full production,” stated president and CEO Scott Caldwell.

Total output from the operation for 2015 totalled 35 901 oz of gold, with 35 723 oz produced between October 1 and December 31. Of this amount, 28 850 oz were sold at an average realised price of $1 079/oz, generating about $31.1-million in pre-tax revenue. 

During December, the mill processed an average of 4 758 t/d, of which more than half of the ore comprised hard rock, at an above-average head grade of 3.24 g/t gold, while gold recoveries averaged 90.4%.

From October 1 to December 31, the company mined a total of 483 135 t of ore grading 3.01 g/t gold. A total of 392 953 t of ore was fed to the mill and the remaining tonnes of ore were stored in the stockpile located near the mill. The company also mined about one-million tonnes of waste.

Further, Guyana Goldfields planned to issue an updated National Instrument 43-101-compliant feasibility study for the Aurora mine this month, which would reflect an extended openpit mining scenario while deferring the underground production until later in the mine life. The company also issued updated cost parameters and reserves based on a $1 000/oz gold price.